Dive Brief:
- Kellogg's team of "independent" experts, called the "Breakfast Council," received payments and guidance from the company regarding the breakfast-related nutrition advice the experts provided, according to a recent investigation by the Associated Press.
- The news organization obtained a copy of a contract and emails that showed Kellogg offered the experts an average compensation of $13,000 a year. Council members were required to participate in "nutrition influencer outreach" via social media, the talking points for which Kellogg may have provided.
- Kellogg has since disbanded the council, which had operated since 2011, after a review of the company's nutrition-related efforts.
Dive Insight:
The Breakfast Council's activities were widespread and closely monitored by Kellogg, according to the AP's investigation. This included having the council "teach a continuing education class for dietitians, publish an academic paper on breakfast, and try to influence the government's dietary guidelines." Kellogg did not allow the council to "(offer) media services for products 'competitive or negative to cereal," AP reported.
Claims of food and beverage "influencing influencers," are nothing new, particularly in terms of nutrition related to the company's own products. Coca-Cola compensated health influencers to write articles suggesting mini sodas could be a snack product, but the company has since stopped those efforts. PepsiCo's Frito-Lay had a dietitian include Fritos among her healthy eating tips for holiday parties, and the American Egg Board paid food bloggers to write online recipes and stories about the benefits of eggs in line with the group’s “key messages.”
In many of these cases, including Kellogg's, the companies argue that the influencers publicly disclosed their affiliation with the company. But outside experts said that disclosure wasn't always clear to the general public, which only serves to fuel consumers' distrust of industry-funded nutrition claims and research.